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5-Foot Tall Utah Woman Armed Only With Zip Ties Decides She's Not Going to Let Crooks Get Away With Robbery -- and It Works!

5-Foot Tall Utah Woman Armed Only With Zip Ties Decides She's Not Going to Let Crooks Get Away With Robbery -- and It Works!

"I just told them, ‘It’s not nice to steal, and you’re going to be in timeout for a while.’"

An unassuming Utah woman took the law into her own hands Sunday performing what could arguably be the nicest of citizen's arrest on two men after they stole an item from her friend's store.

According to KSTU-TV, Cindy Simone is only about 5 feet tall and weighs just around 100 pounds. But she didn't have to use brute force to apprehend the suspects who allegedly stole a watch from her friend's antique store last month.

Cellphone video taken of the event doesn't capture what exactly Simone said when she approached two men sitting at a bar in Ogden, but she seems to be calmly questioning them as they watched a football game. The next thing you know, one of them gets up, puts his hands behind his back and allows Simone to handcuff him with zip ties. An unidentified male helps zip tie the other suspect.

cindy simone citizens arrest Cindy Simone talks to the men in the bar before performing a citizen's arrest on them. (Image source: via KSTU video screenshot)

“I told them… I’m doing a citizens’ arrest on behalf of the state of Utah, the city of Ogden,” Simone told KSTU. “And you’re coming with me until the officers pick you up.”

She even said she hated to ruin their day, knowing they were enjoying Sunday football, but "they had to go to jail.”

The men were led from the bar to sit on plastic chairs outside where they waited for law enforcement, according to the local news station. To see the cellphone footage, head over to KSTU to check it out.

citizens arrest A man being zip tied in a citizen's arrest. (Image source: Sock Monkey'n Around/Facebook)

citizens arrest Simone keeping watch over the men she is holding until police come to take the suspects. (Image source: Sock Monkey'n Around/Facebook)

“We were very good to them; gave them water and a lot of lecturing,” Simone said. “We talked to them quite a bit. The court will be a lot harder than me. I’m a nice person. But this is family. This is family, and you don’t mess with the family.”

C.J. Bovee, owner of Sock Monkey’n Around from where the watch bracelet was stolen, told KSTU that when she saw the men in the bar next door, identifying them based on her own surveillance video, she called Simone, who is a bail bondsman. Simone asked a four men to back her up when she approached the suspects.

“These are little thieves, I wasn’t afraid of them,” Simone told KSTU. “They weren’t going to hurt me or anything. They might run. I didn’t want to chase them. So I got some guys who could…  I just told them, ‘It’s not nice to steal, and you’re going to be in timeout for a while.’”

Watch KSTU's report:

Shortly after the mid-September theft, Bovee took to social media with her surveillance video to identify the thieves.

citizens arrest This image from Bovee's surveillance camera shows three suspects in the watch theft last month. (Image source: Sock Monkey'n Around/Facebook)

"We'll catch 'em. I don't want anybody messing with our stores down here. They tagged last weekend, Friday night. And the video is posted online already, I'm sure they're getting tips. Cindy Simone from the Kokomo is the one who posted it. We're not going to mess with them, this is our street. This is 25th Street, this is historic. Don't mess with our street," Bovee said at the time, according to the Standard-Examiner.

Bovee has kept her store's Facebook page updated since the citizens' arrest as well.

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